Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 December 1888 — Labrador. [ARTICLE]

Labrador.

From the map of Labrador, published in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, to illustrate the explorations of Mr. R. F. Holme, it appears that a large portion of that as yet almost unexplored peninsula may, from the existence of a continuous waterway, consisting of lakes connected by rivers, be in a certain sense considered as an island. This chain of lakes and rives stretches from Ungava Bay to Goose Bay, at the head of Hamilton Inlet. Five considerable streams find their way into Goose Bay, including the Kenamou, which is used as one of the routes from the south, the Nascopee and Grand River, both of which communicate with Lake Petchikapou. The interior of Labrador, according to Mr. Holme, who has ascended all the rivers that enfer Goose Bay as far as they could be navigated in a boat, is not by any means the desert region which the dreary aspect of the coast would lead us to infer. At a distance inland of about twelve miles a luxuriant forest commences, and clothes the entire country except the barrens or moors, which are the home of the caribou. The interior forms a vast tableland, the height of which is given by Prof. Hind at 2,240 feet above the sea. The long and narrow Lake Wiminikapou is situated on the line of Grand River, which is by far the largest of the rivers of the district, at a distance of about 150 miles from its month, and below the elevated tableland. Thirty miles higher up the river are the Grand Falls, the exact height of which is not known, but which are probably among the loftiest and most stupendous waterfalls in the world, since over them and over the rapids of thirty miles of rivercourse Grand River descends at least 2,000 feet. The Indians of the interior belong to the Cree nation, and are probably the most unadulterated Indians to be found at the present date upon the North American continent. Ohaussier dried a man in a kiln and there resulted only twelve pounds of solid mattter.